Florida Mortgage Loan Applications Rising

With home mortgage rates falling to the lowest level in three months, Florida mortgage applications rose to the highest level in three months last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reports Wednesday.

Total applications - including home purchase loans and those for Florida mortgage refinance purposes - increased 2.8 percent week-on-week and were up 19 percent compared with the same week a year ago.

The number of mortgage applications used to refinance an existing Florida mortgage rose 3.5 percent to the highest level in 18 months and are up about 46 percent compared with the same week a year ago.

Florida mortgage refinancing accounted for 46.2 percent of all applications, up a tenth of a percentage point from the previous week’s survey.

The volume of requests for Florida home loans to buy a home increased by 2.2 percent to the highest level in two months. Home purchase loans have risen 3 percent compared with a year ago.

By contrast, home sales are down markedly from the same time last year. As applications rose, Florida mortgage rates remained mixed over the past week.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate Florida home loan fell to 6.03 percent from 6.04 percent. At the same time, the average rates for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 5.78 percent from 5.73 percent.

Average rates for one-year adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 5.86 percent from 5.79 percent. The spread between a 30-year fixed-rate and a one-year ARM dropped to 17 basis points (or 0.17 percent), the narrowest spread since January 5, 2001.

A narrower spread reduces the benefit to a borrower for taking out an ARM over a fixed-rate Florida mortgage. The spread was as wide as 297 basis points in the summer of 2003, when ARMs actually had a slightly smaller share of the market than currently.